Coffee Bean Types Explained

There are two main types of coffee beans in the world, which include Coffee Robusta and Coffee Arabica. Basically more than three-quarters of the coffee beans which are sold in the world these days are coffee Arabica, and most of the remaining bulk are Coffe Robusta, which is also known as coffee Canephora.

Coffee Robusta beans are of lower grade than are the Arabica counterpart beans, and are particularly at lower elevations. They are much easier to maintain and grow. Moreover, they are also more disease resistant and generate a higher production. Robusta beans possess more of an astringent taste and contain higher amount of caffeine.

On the other hand, coffee Arabica beans have higher quality and are referred to as gourmet coffee. They have half the amount of caffeine content as Robusta and possess more pleasing tastes and aromatic properties. Most Arabica bean varieties are name after the region or country in which they are originated from.

There are some other bean species, which include Bengal coffee, Benghalensis, Congo coffee, Coffecongensis, Coffee Liberica, CoffeStenophylla, Coffee Excelsia, COffe Bonnier, and CoffeMogeneti. However, these coffee beans are not available in the export market.

The Lifecycle of the Coffee Bean

Before coffee beans are ground down, peculated and then poured into coffee cup, they go through a series of process which spans over a period of several months. Frist, the beans are harvested.

The coffee tree starts the life as seed and then after four to eight weeks it grows into seedling. At this stage the seedling needs to be handled with care so as to make sure that the soil will remain moist and not attract too much sunlight. After around seven to eighteen months, the tree will grow to around twelve inches tall.

It is a further 3 years before the tree bears the fruit, which is known as cherries, and a further six years before it is entirely mature and ready to produce fruit fully.

It is at this juncture that the trees are ready to be harvested. Next, the harvested beans are picked up. Good coffee picker can pick 50 to 60 pounds of beans in one day.

These beans are then sorted once they are picked. This is done in different ways, depending on the result of the needed coffee flavour. After that, processing is begun. Dry processing include drying the cherries in the sun, and then removing the pulp, parchment, and then dried skin.

The next process is wet processing, which include putting the cherries in water. Any beans floating are removed as defective. The remaining pulp will be removed.

The other stages include hulling and polishing. Hulling requires machine to remove parchment layer form the wet-processed beans. The dry one includes removing the whole dried husk of dried cherries.

The polishing process also requires machine to remove silver skin which is left on after hulling process. When polishing is done, cleaning, sorting, and grading are started.

The last three stages are exporting, tasting, and roasting the coffee beans. The first one includes delivering the beans worldwide. Actually at every stage of coffee production exists tasting for taste and quality. Lastly, roasting the coffee is usually done in importing country since freshly roasted beans have to reach the consumer as soon as possible.